flydubai said an altercation in the cockpit of flight FZ1073, travelling from Dubai International Airport to Ben Gurion International Airport, prompted the crew to divert the aircraft and land safely at Tabuk Airport in north-western Saudi Arabia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was still too early to determine who was behind the incident or what their motives were.
The aircraft was carrying 174 passengers when the altercation occurred. flydubai confirmed that all passengers and crew members were safe and that their condition had been checked after landing. It said the crew had secured the aircraft and dealt with the situation in line with established safety protocols, with none of the passengers injured.
flydubai keeps cause of altercation under investigation
The airline said it had taken the necessary steps to deal with the incident and ensure that the flight could continue in line with approved operational requirements. It stressed that the causes and motives behind the incident had not yet been fully established and that the circumstances were subject to an official investigation by the relevant authorities. The airline said it was co-operating fully with investigations aimed at establishing the details and causes.
Tabuk Airport received a distress call from the flydubai flight at 8:44am requesting an emergency landing. Emergency procedures were activated, and the relevant authorities raised their level of readiness to deal with the situation and secure the passengers and crew. The airport later announced that a replacement aircraft had carried the passengers to their final destination.
Netanyahu discusses possible Israeli involvement in investigation
Commenting on the incident during an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Wednesday, Netanyahu said it was too early to determine who was behind it, adding that Israel would “perhaps” take part in the investigations. He was responding to a question about whether there were indications of Iranian involvement in the incident.
Earlier the same day, Netanyahu said in a video statement that one of the pilots had stabbed his colleague and apparently tried to bring down the aircraft with everyone on board as it approached Israel. He praised the Indian pilot, Smeet Matchar, who was injured during a confrontation with his co-pilot on the flight, and also praised the passengers, saying their intervention had prevented a catastrophe.
Katz describes incident as an attempt to bring down aircraft
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz described the incident as a “terrorist attempt” and said the initial information available to the authorities indicated that the attacker’s aim had been to bring down the aircraft with all its passengers on board. This account remains attributed to Katz, while flydubai continues to say that the motives and causes are under investigation.
Katz claimed that the incident was thwarted by a number of Israeli passengers who stormed the cockpit and managed to overpower the person he described as a “terrorist”. He added that control of the aircraft was then returned to an additional flight crew who were on board. A US State Department official, meanwhile, confirmed that four US citizens were on the flight.
US President Donald Trump said he had spoken at length with Netanyahu about the incident, adding that the co-pilot appeared, in his words, to be “either a terrorist or deranged” and that he had stabbed the aircraft’s captain. Israel’s Transport Ministry announced that it had opened a joint investigation with the security establishment into the incident.
Netanyahu also instructed, according to a spokesperson for his office, that security procedures be strengthened aboard aircraft operated by Israeli and non-Israeli airlines following the incident. The statements came as the flight’s passengers departed for Tel Aviv on a new aircraft. Security sources said Saudi Arabia had refused to allow an Israeli aircraft to receive them, before the passengers departed on another flydubai flight to their final destination.
